Fathersayer

A fathersayer is a special kind of soothsayer who can reveal the true, biological father of another person, usually a newly born child. The art of divination was and is widely regarded to be a valid form of information-gathering in the World of Asdar, but fathersayers were infamous for being swayed to give the answers their clients wanted or for being outright cheats. For this reason, an individual fathersayer was obliged to build up a reputation in the community in which he or she served. In many cases, a person might consult multiple fathersayers from different communities who could not collaborate with each other to find out the truth. In some cases, a new fathersayer to a community would be obliged to reveal the paternity of a child whose paternity was not in doubt and therefore prove his mettle or reveal his ineptitude.

Consulting a fathersayer typically involves bringing the person whose paternity is being discovered, usually a child, and more often than not the person hoped, suspected, or feared of being the father. With regard to the latter person, this is not always possible, but often is necessary for a valid determination with many fathersayers. Often the client is the man who wants to assure himself he is the child's father. The fathersayer usually touches the head of the person whose paternity was in question and make several utterances to his divinity or divinities. He is usually required to give an answer fairly soon as sending away the client to return another day is often grounds for the client to suspect collusion with other members of the community. At length, the fathersayer makes a pronouncement, that is he or she "says father or not father."

Fathersaying, that is, the art of being a fathersayer, has been practiced since time immemorial and is referenced in many old epic poems. Often a fathersayer was a soothsayer or local folk mage who practiced other related arts of magic and divination.

Idioms

Today, the idiom, "to say father," is used in the connotative sense to mean to authenticate some person or thing. The saying "Who will say father for the fathersayer?" is used to express concern about validating the authorities.

See Also

• Folk Magic